Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1887-08-21
RIGHTS OF JURIES.
A LESSON FROM history CALLED
FORTH BY OLD HANOVER.
The Judge May Instruct but he Cannot
Invade the Province Of the jury
Information for the People.


her two Hsnrys meaning thereby
Patrick Henry and Henry Clay. AZ
such an entertainment now one might
drink 10 cold Hanover and her two
iurics meaning thereby the jury
which gave the verdict for the people
in tho celebrated Parsons case and that
which gave the verdict for the Com
monwcalth in tho tax receivable coupon
case at the July term Of the County
Cont. Both deserve such cOmpli-
mcni. for both gave a just verdict
against the influence and opinion of the
Court.
The first case involved the right of
the clergy 10 claim the 5000 pounds
Of tobacco. which had been voted as
the annual stipend Of each OF them from
the year 1890, in lieu of the money
into which they had agreed for upwards
of sixty yssrs. TO commute 1t ut the
rate OF ID in the pound rs had alsothe
shcrils. clerks. and all the officers
whose fees and salaries had been pad
in the same way.
The occasion Of the claim WAS rise
in the price Of tobacco. owing 10 n bad
crop. 80 CD. IN the pound, IN anticipa-
tiOn Of which law was passed autho-
ri2ing the inhabltant. Of the colony to
discharge their tobacco debts in money
for the year 1855. That led to an
angry controversy OF eight years'
duration. in which both the peO-
PIE and the clergy took part. in
cluding such men a. Colonel Bland, Of
TriDcc George, and Colonel LandOn
Carter, Of the Northern Neck, on the
part of the people, snd Rev. John
Csmm. Episcopalian commls5ary OF
The colony, for the clergy. This
terminated in the complete dlscomii-
ture Of the latter in December, 1863,
when. though the Court had decided in
favor of the clergy, and the counsel
for the defence bad retired from the
case. "A man appearing SIS If sent by
Providence to champion the rights OF
the people. the jury very properly dis
REGARDED what the Court had ruled and
decided the case on that law of God writ
ten in the heart, "besides and above
all written law, which gives to written
laws their authority, and from which,
50 often as they divcrHs. 1t is woe to
the trainers o. tho law, for their law
must perish" The records of the con-
trovcIsy cannot now be found, at least
by me, though they existed when Writ
wrote the life Of Henry but its point
was well known at tho time, and l
must think it turned on
Tub MORAL RIGHT or MEN,
especially Of men in holy orders, to
take advantage Of law whose terms
flowed them Ia change the nature OF
tie payment Of 8 debt to suit them
sc.yes, regardless Of rights established
ly the mutual scquiescence Of half a
C tury.@
In this modern case the jury appears
to have again gsno counter to the
opinion of the Judge and here also
tie Jury was right-the Judge wrong.
The controversy on the debt question
has lasted for sixteen years-double rs
long as that in the Parsons case-its
merits have become perfectly under
stood, and the people are convinced
that the funding bill OF 1871 was I'M
constitutional. SO were, OF course, all
acts in aid of it that it was passed by
bribing large number OF negroes and
some white men in the Legisla-
ture: that it was continued i'll
force by m improper construction
of our Court OF Appeals-see opinion
in Antoni rs Wright-which violated
the fundamental right OF taxation and
tho sovereignty OF the State ; that 1t
has been stteHptsd to be fixed by the
unconstltutionsl act of Federal judges,
who hsvo assumed jurisdiction over
St.tc hv deciding that n States con
tract had binding force on the State,
and that she could be sue1 to enforce
if-Ioindex.sr as. GrstnhOw, L. >. IL.
ia 30; that the State hsstho sovereign
and sole right to decide Whist she owes
and what size will pay; that the bond
holders have forfeited all claim, even to
a compromise, in attempting to bank
Yupt us and break down our whole sys-
TEN Of government by taking adj
VANTAGE OF fraudulent legislation and
ILLEGAL and unconstitutional DEGREES,
thus making themselves the enemies OF
the State and that Whatever tho state
engages to pay she does cr-grdti0 (as
under the Kiddleborgcr bill until it is
Tel calcd), and that the bOndholders
sh nd have not another cent judge or
10 judge. -,
In this case nj Hanover court which,
as contend. involved all these points,
Il bond was produced purportlng to be
a receivable coupon bond of 1871,
andthc witness, who was also counsel FOR
the bondhOldcrs, testified that the cou-
pon offered for taxes 10y the plaintiff
Lad been cat from that bond 10y him
sclf. that lie wa. acquainted with the
handwriting Of George Rye, the Trea-
surer Of tie State, who signed all the
consol bonds, and that the bond IN
court was signed in MS handwriting.
TIE JURY,
who knew he Was not an expert, found
that the coupon had been cut from thu
bond. as lie testified, but that there
was 10 sufficient evidences before them
70 prove that tho bond was genuine f;
and upon this the Judge (RedD order
cd new trial. But the jury had per
feet night 10 have gone further-to find
uhat the bond, whether genuine or not,
lsd lccn issued in violation OF the
State Constitution see opinion OF
Judge Staples in Antoni ~. Wright,
% Grattan, page 500. and, therefore,
was not a valid bond and that no sig
natures of sta,e officers nor subseqnent
legislation, even such as tho Riddle
berger bill. csull cure that vital defect
OF uncons,itutionality.
This know will be pooh-poohe0
as revolutionary, wild, and absurd by
Judges ana lawyers, though both have
often seen verdicts found on this very
prirciplc. They contend that the de-
cision Of our Court Of Appeals fixes tho
law. But I challenge them TO find any
statute that deprivss jury of the right
to find their verdict on thor own ideas
of Jaw. 1t il true that the Judge has
the right to instruct jury-that Is. to
explain 10 them what he thinks the law
is indeed. it il often his duty to DO so.
And if he be the sort of man III whose
probity and
KNOWLEDGE A july
can copfidc his instructions will be lis
tened 10 with respect. But this very
plain fact shows that the right TO in
stiact conveys 10 right TO command